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Start of school vaccination rollout
Students aged between 12 and 17 will begin being administered Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccinations this morning. Most of the shots will be administered on school on-campus.
Health officials say schools have been advised to ensure that precautionary measures, including ambulances and medical personnel, are in place and on stand-by in case any of the students suffer side effects from the jab.
Some 1.3 million students in the 12-17 year old age bracket will be getting the shot over the coming days. Students aged between 18 and 22 are slated to be vaccinated next.
Taiwan has so far received around 1.8 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine as part of a total of 15-million doses ordered and donated to the government by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, Hon Hai and the Tzu Chi Foundation.
Terry Gou has said he believes that some 800 to 900,000 doses will now be delivered to Taiwan on a weekly basis directly from the vaccine's German manufacturer.
Health Minister Chen Shih-chung says the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) will begin distributing its latest batch of 1.08 million doses of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine to local governments next Tuesday.
According to Chen the epidemic command center will lower the age eligibility in that round of vaccinations. That means that vaccines will be administered as a second dose to senior citizens aged 70 and over and indigenous people aged 60 and over, who received their first Moderna dose before 16 July.
Health authorities had initially said the second Moderna shots in that round of vaccination would be administered to those 75 years old and over.
The health minister says local health authorities will inform people in the eligible age groups when and where they can get their second Moderna jab.
The CECC says it is seeking to achieve a second-dose vaccination rate of at least 60% by the end of this year.
